- Assignment Title: Reimagine a space.
- Assignment Description: Reimagine a space that exists, inspired by reality, memory and imagination.
- Created by: Hanya Elghamry
- Responded by: Francesco Felletti, Natasha Brown, Roberta Borroni, Yulin Huang, Hanya Elghamry, Marine One, Medb
Marine One - Takaban
Medb - untitled (supermoon split in half over Balham)
Yulin Huang - Overnight Fall
Hanya Elghamry- Anything and everything
Roberta Borroni - A new house for my friend
Francesco Felletti & Natasha Brown - Secrets Holborn
FF and NB: Our project started with finding these old pamphlets in the studio space we share, which happens to be right next to an abandoned strip club. We got the idea to reimagine a past version of the strip club, performing as the old strippers of the club. It was essentially a re-enactment of the images we found in the brochures. Tash brought in some bras and sexy underwear for us to wear and play with (thank you). We also talked about how this might come across as offensive to strippers. However, we felt that in the context of the MAA, and given our aim to create a kind of homage to the space's past, it was ok (It’s hard to do the right thing when you really like an idea).
RB: The space I decided to reimagine is an ugly cabinet full of glassware that was left by the previous owner of the house and that our landlord decided to leave in the living room because "it's always handy to have some extras". For the first time I had a reason to take out some of the glasses and reimagine the space that was left - it looked like a nook, a tiny home for a tiny friend.
HE: I wanted to be a child again doing this assignment just draw shapes and colors and see where it takes me, I think home to me is just being a kid again at my family’s home, but it also means being with my partner, family and friends in one city. Living in between has been very difficult, and it doesn’t seem to get easier, but I hope I figure it out soon.
MO: This is a plan of the flat I lived in for the first 6 years of my life in Takaban, Tokyo. I just remember it was quite small, even from the perspective of a child. I have some memories of it and some influences from photos taken there to make this plan. Even though I don’t remember the exact structure of the flat, I have bits of memories alongside the corners of the flat. I asked my mom to draw the plan from her memory, which turned out really different from mine. Turns out that the location is also not exactly Takaban but Gakugei.
M: In the midst of not working on any specific concrete poem or piece, but just writing as it comes to me, often reflectively. In summer my mind often drifts back to South London (as I spent many's a strange summer there) and more recently have been wanting to start piecing something together that accurately reflects my experience of the place exactly as I saw and lived and felt it, very inspired by Lorde's process of writing Virgin and her quest for "absolute truth".